


A Child’s Journey

by Demon (TheDemonShipper)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Ashlyn - Freeform, Camp Half-Blood, Camp Jupiter, Child of Apollo (Percy Jackson), Child of Demeter (Percy Jackson), Demi-Gods, F/F, F/M, Foster Care, Group Homes, Harper - Freeform, Hubris, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kyler - Freeform, M/M, Misunderstood and labeled as dangerous, Nina - Freeform, OC, OC backstory, Other, Sarah - Freeform, Taylor - Freeform, Violence, Violent Child, aspen - Freeform, foster children, illegitimate child, lou - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-06-14 07:15:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15383487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDemonShipper/pseuds/Demon
Summary: Nina is a happy Apollo camper with a bit of spunk and randomness thrown in. Her best friend is Aspen, a genderfluid but mostly agender child of Demeter. The two of them have an amazing life at camp Half-blood during the summer, and can often be found in the infirmary (mostly organizing the storage closet and such) or out on walks in the woods with Aspen’s wolves. Sometimes they go and hang out with a friend of theirs, a Roman son of Asclepius, or yet other times they’ll hang out with some of the other campers (particularly a few children of Zeus). They very much enjoy going to the campfires and just getting the most out of camp life. They spend the school year at Apollo’s palace (perks of being Apollo’s favorite daughter, amirite?) even though Apollo makes Aspen rather uncomfortable. No matter their difficulties and whatever quests are thrown at them, these two besties make it all work. But it wasn’t always that way... Let me take you back a decade and reveal how one of the greatest half-blood friendships came to be, and how the duo made it to camp.





	1. Nina’s New Home

**_She knew enough to be nervous about going to the group home. And she had a right to be worried._ **

Nina had grown old enough to be moved to a group home from where she was being fostered, and that was a good thing, because her foster family could no longer care for her.

Or so the social worker had said when she came to take Nina to the group home. The little blonde haired girl was still skeptical. She was only about three years old, but she knew enough to be nervous about going to the group home. And she had a right to be worried.  
When they got to the house, the social worker brought her to the door, and rang the doorbell.

While they waited for the door to be opened, Nina surveyed the yard and house. She didn’t think it seemed so bad at first glance -which is pretty much all she got, as the door opened soon after.  
The person who greeted them was an auburn haired woman, probably the caretaker of the group home.  
"Hey Michelle," The woman smiled hesitantly, greeting the social worker who was with Nina. "Who's this little one?"

"Hey Sarah, this is Nina," Michelle replied, keeping a hand on the little girl's back. “The girl I told you about on the phone.”

"Well, hi Nina. Come on in guys," Sarah said, opening the door and letting them follow her into the house.

Michelle closed the door behind them as she walked in after Nina. Sarah then took them on a tour of the house, but Nina was paying more attention to the other kids who were milling the house then the tour itself.  
They were only about halfway through the tour when a loud, chilling, yelling sound started coming from the other room.

Sarah face tightened into a worried scowl. "Not again," She mumbled before she began running upstairs.

"God, what is that?!" Michelle asked worriedly as she followed Sarah, who was headed for the source of the loud screaming.

"One of the children here. He has huge meltdowns and sometimes he hurts himself," Sarah explained worriedly as she ran. “Or the other children.”

When they got into the room, Nina saw the source of the commotion: A raven haired five year old boy with startling eyes was screaming, throwing toys at the other kids, physically attacking them with his nails and drawing blood. He looked extremely angry and plainly out of control. He had two different colored eyes, which portrayed his anger quite well; One a cold steely silver color, the other a molten amber, orange if you would.

"Andrew!" Sarah yelled over the tumult, trying to get between him and a couple of other kids. A girl around nine and what looked like a boy of the same age. Both of the children hid behind Sarah, trembling. The raging boy redirected his gaze to her as she called him, but his anger did not die, it only seemed to grow. He changed directions to run at her and began to direct the toys he was throwing at her now.

Sarah yelped and ducked, but several toys still hit her. "Andrew stop this at once!" She screeched. The little boy only seemed to grow more angry, the onslaught of toys growing tenfold along with his screaming.

In the meantime, Michelle was trying to shield Nina from the young boy's fury but Nina saw something curious about him and peeked out from behind her human shield to investigate, somehow sensing it may be worth the risk.

When the boy spotted Nina, his miss-matching eyes seemed to drain of his anger, slowly but surely, and a flicker of curiosity ignited in both his silver eye and his amber eye, although the emotion in his right eye seemed to be lagging slightly. He stopped screaming and throwing the toys at Sarah, gradually dropping all but one of them (a soft dolphin plushie), and turning towards Nina slowly. 

Sarah gaped and held her breath as the little boy slowly walked over to Nina. She wasn’t sure what he was going to do but it wasn’t like she was close enough to stop him. Besides, she was too in awe of what she was witnessing for such a thought to even cross her mind. 

Nina stepped out from behind Michelle fully and watched the black haired boy walk over. He didn't do much of anything besides just look at Nina for a while. Then he held out his hand, the one with his stuffed dolphin in it. Nina blinked and reached out tenderly to take the stuffed animal, which the boy let her have. The boy watched Nina for a moment longer before walking over to the corner of the room and sitting down quietly. Nina gazed after him.

Sarah let herself breathe again after a moment, although she looked to be in some form of shock. "No one has ever been able to get him out of a funk before... we usually have to put him in his room and let him blow it off. And.... he's never shared anything with anyone before..." She was mystified as she replayed the scene in her head again and again. The two nine year olds who had previously been seeking refuge from her seemed to sense that the danger was over and they returned to playing with a nearby doll house.

Michelle looked rather concerned still. "Is that normal for him?... The outbursts, I mean."

Sarah heaved a long sigh, "Well, yes. It is. Andrew has a rage at least once a week, if not once a day. He's very troublesome in that sense. He refuses to talk to us unless he's screaming at us while having a fit... it's difficult because he can be violent towards the other children and even the the adults we have in here at times. The children are never seriously injured though, and that's the only reason we can still have him here. I'm sure he's a good kid, he's just so.... angry at the world, and I don’t blame him. He’s had a pretty rough life so far. I just wish there was a way to get through to him." 

Michelle seemed to understand, “I see. Do you know anything about his past?”

“No, not really. He’s one of our newer kids, and I was only told that he came from a really bad home. Not a situation any child should ever have been exposed to,” Sarah said sadly.

 

While the adults were chatting, Nina cautiously approached the ravenette.

"H... hi," Nina greeted, upon reaching the boy. He was curled up in the corner he’d gone to after giving her the dolphin stuffed animal. He was sitting in the fetal position when she arrived, silently looking at his shoes while he hugged his knees. He certainly didn’t look threatening now.

The boy looked up when he heard her. His eyes nervously darted around and he looked as though he wasn't sure she was talking to him, but eventually he spoke. "Hi..." His voice sounded slightly cracked, like it hadn't been used softly for a long time.

"What's your name?" Nina asked the boy, sitting next to him after a moment.

The boy gazed at her silently for a moment before he said, in the same quiet, timid voice Nina was beginning to suspect was his normal one; "Aspen. Yours?"

The blonde smiled softly, "My name is Nina."

"W-wanna play?" Aspen stuttered quietly, tilting his head away from her as if he were afraid he’d be rebuked for asking.

Nina smiled and agreed. “Yeah. What should we play?”

Aspen glanced down and didn’t say anything for a moment. Then he pulled two worn figurines out of the pocket of his grey coat. “What about animals? But not like normal animals... like... animals who are friends… not enemies.” He said hesitantly.The most likely reason for this was because the figurines were that of a black cat and a golden retriever.

“Okay.” Nina agreed, accepting one of the two figurines and initiating a quiet sort of play.  

 

After a couple of minutes Sarah and Michelle noticed the two children playing and Sarah gaped at this sight, "But... but... Andrew? Huh? They're playing nicely? Andrew has never played with any of the other children..."

"Well, at least they seem to be getting along.” Michelle got a beeping noise over her phone and frowned, “Sorry, let me check this, it’s work.” She pulled up a message and seemed to grow increasingly worried as she scanned its contents. “Listen, I have to get going, there’s a report of a foster kid who’s run away. Will you show Nina to her room when she's ready?" She asked worriedly.

Sarah nodded, she understood the importance of the situation. "Of course I will, you need to go now.”

"Yeah, I do. Bye." Michelle said to Sarah in farewell before she left, forgetting to say goodbye to Nina in concern for the other kid. 

That left a mystified Sarah alone, watching the little blonde girl she’d just met play with her unforgiving demon of a child.


	2. The Rest Of The Day

“Dinner!”  
The call echoed through the whole house, alerting the children of the meal that had been prepared for them.

Nina looked up when she heard the call and set the dog figurine that she had been playing with on the table. Aspen however didn’t seem to notice the food summons and kept playing with his black cat figurine.

Nina stood up and stretched before asking quietly, “Aspen... aren’t you hungry?”

Aspen blinked and looked up from his game, “What’d’ya mean?” He asked softly.

“It’s dinner time?” Nina asked, tilting her head slightly in confusion.

“It... is?” He asked blankly.

“I think so..” Nina said, offering Aspen a hand to get up. “Let’s go eat.”

Aspen accepted Nina’s hand and followed her as she headed downstairs, making a beeline for the dinning table.

As they got downstairs, they found most of the other kids already there. Sarah was talking to them as Nina and Aspen got to the table, “Ash, I’m sorry but you’ll just have to pick around your broccoli. As for you Lou, honey what have we said about having books at the table? And- oh, hey Nina. Everyone, we have a new kiddo staying with us as of now. This is Nina, and seeing as she is much smaller then all of you I need you to be gentle with her okay? C’mon guys, introduce yourselves.”

The same nine year old girl Nina had noticed earlier spoke shyly after a moment. She had long, silky, light brown hair that hung loosely around her shoulders. “H-Hey, m-my name is Ashlyn, but you c-can call me Ash...” She tapped her fingers slowly on the tablecloth in an anxious sort of way. 

About ten seconds after Ashlyn introduced herself, the boy she was playing with earlier decided he should go next. The kid was bouncing around in his seat and simply did not seem like he could stay still for long. “Heyyy, What’s up? Your name is Nina? That’s sooo cool! I’m Harper! I totally think you’re going to like it here. Oh my gosh we’re going to be like siblings or something!!!!” His caramel colored hair accented his warm brown eyes well, Nina noted.

Nina was a little taken aback by the complete and utter contrast of those two but stayed silent anyway, as not to interrupt.

A golden brown haired girl who was around... 12? looked up from her book in annoyance, “Harper, shut up.”

“Louise!” Sarah said in a waning tone.

The girl sighed, “Sorry.” She didn’t really seem sincere to Nina, but apparently Sarah bought it because she didn’t protest again. “Hi. My name is Lou. That’s all you need to know.” Her voice was similar to a bored monotone, and Nina had a feeling that this girl was not very nice when the adults weren’t around.

The next kid went, he was a boy with skort, spiky light brown hair. He looked around 11. “Sup?” His expression was basically just an amused smirk, “My name is Taylor.”

And another boy, he looked to be around 10. “My name is Jellooo.”

Sarah gave that last boy a long look.

“Okay, okay. You’re no fun.” He said, ruffling his chocolate brown hair with one hand, his golden eyes sparkling mischievously but not in a very warm way. “My name is actually Ky, short for Kyler.”

Nina nodded slowly and nervously. Usually she didn’t mind being the center of attention, but right now she wanted nothing more then to still be alone with Aspen, playing animals. Speaking of Aspen, he had sat down on the other end of the table, away from the other kids. When Nina headed over to sit by him, Lou looked up from her book again and glared at her. Nina was rather unnerved by this, she was pretty sure she hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Poor, confused child,” Taylor sighed, just loud enough for the other kids to hear, as Sarah had already finished dishing out their food and was too busy getting Ashlyn a cup of orange juice to overhear. “Exiled to sit with that miserable excuse of a human being. Why don’t you come sit over here with us?”

Nina may have only been three but she was rather smart, and she definitely knew when someone was being mean so she glanced at Taylor, but she certainly wasn’t wondering whether she wanted to sit with him or not, she was wondering what gave him permission to treat her new friend like that. She shook her head.

“Devil child’s got youse under his spell huh?” Ky asked, tapping his fingers on the tablecloth.

“Kylee, grow some proper grammar,” Lou chastised, putting her bookmark in her book and putting it down so she could eat.

Ashlyn and Harper exchanged uneasy glances, as if they didn’t like where this was going. They kept their eyes on their plates, avoiding eye contact and not making any sudden movements.

“Louie, if I wanted some proper gramma I’d bye some, grawing it takes too long!” Ky retorted, his voice warped by an accent that Nina couldn’t quite identify, but it seemed to make it difficult for him to say some English words correctly.

Lou sighed and facepalmed, looking at Kyler and mentally loathing him at the moment because of his stupidity, “Ninconpoop.” She then returned her attention to Nina. “Cat got your tounge little one? Or are you too small to use your voice?” Her voice carried an overly fake sweetness with it as she spoke.

Nina frowned and she said quietly, “I can talk but you ain’t given me a reason to yet.”

Tay gave her a hard glare, “What was that?” His tone had a dangerous edge to it and Nina shrank back a little bit at it’s harsh nature, not answering.

Kyler glared at Nina and was about to speak when Sarah came back into the room with Ashlyn’s orange juice. She looked tired and unaware of what the kids had been talking about. “Here you go sweetie.” She gave Ashlyn her orange juice and looked between all of the kids, realizing she had forgotten to get Nina something to drink. “Nina, honey, is there anything I can get you to drink?”

Nina glanced down shyly and after a moment she looked up and asked hopefully, “Sun D?”

It was the first time Sarah had heard her speak and she was surprised by how meek, small and adorable her voice was. The young blonde’s gaze was pleading, so Sarah decided not to argue that she usually didn’t let the kids have something so sugary right before bed and make an exception just this once. “Okay, one Sunny D coming up.”

Nina smiled softly, “Thank you.”

She looked so happy that Sarah smiled in return, “You are very welcome.” Her smile faultered when she noticed that one particular raven haired five year old hadn’t even touched his food. “Andrew?” She asked softly, “C’mon, aren’t you hungry? You have to eat something.”

Aspen turned toward Sarah, his miss-matching silver and amber eyes gleaming with anger. He didn’t say anything, but he did grab an apple and excuse himself from the table without a single word.

“Andrew....” Sarah sighed. She shook her head and retrieved the pot of left over Mac n’cheese from the kitchen counter, starting to eat some while she kept an eye on the kids. Because of this, Kyler, Taylor and Lou left Nina alone. Ashlyn wasn’t much of a conversationalist, so that left Harper, who practically talked everyone’s ears off for the rest of dinner, somehow managing to clean his plate a couple of times in the process. 

“I heard that monkeys are trained to like... find drugs... or are those dogs? Speaking of dogs, did you know that all dogs came from a wolf? Anyways, peanut butter is really yummy right? But don’t you just hate it when it sticks to the top of your mouth??” It went like this and so on as everyone ate. As they started wrapping up dinner, the second care worker came back from a grocery run he’d made after work.

“Hey Hon,” Sarah called as the man entered the room.

“Hey Sarah. Hey kids!” He turned his attention to the children. “You guys know the drill, help with the groceries and you get a cookie for desert.”

All of the kids cheered and jumped up, running out to the garage... all except one however...

The man looked to Nina gently, “Hey little one, what’s your name?”

Nina looked sleepy, yet still shy. “I’m Nina,” She said quietly.

“Well hi Nina. My name is Ryan. Can you say Ryan?” He asked.

“Ry...Ryhan?” Nina attempted.

Ryan patted her head, “Not quite, but good try.” He glanced back to Sarah after smiling softly at Nina. “Where’s Andrew?” He questioned, his eyes sweeping over the table and coming to rest on Aspen’s untouched dinner.

Sarah frowned, “About that, he wasn’t eating and I got worried. I tried to ask him if he was hungry and tell him that he needed to eat, but he just gave me a glare and headed upstairs with an apple.”

“Ah, so more of the usual then.... A shame...” Ryan sighed, “If only we could get through to him...”

Sarah frowned again, thoughtfully this time and less out of concern. “Actually, something happened earlier today.” She glanced to Nina, who looked like she was fighting off sleep. “I’ll explain later, when the kids are asleep. Can you keep an eye on the other five while I put Nina to bed?”

Ryan smiled lightly and kissed Sarah’s forehead, “Of course babe.”

 

Sarah smiled her thanks and headed over to Nina. “C’mere sweetie, you look exausted,” She said, holding out her arms. The three year old complied and allowed herself to be picked up. Sarah began to carry Nina upstairs and told her along the way, “You’re going to be sleeping in Andrew’s room, that sound good?”

Nina nodded slightly and Sarah continued to a closed door, at which, she had to shift her grip on Nina to open it. She tried to be as quiet as possible while doing so, in case Andrew was sleep.

Aspen’s room was relatively clean for a five year old boy’s room... there were a few small piles of toys here and there: stuffed animals, action figures, a lot of animal figurines, and even a few barbies in nice outfits. Yet, compared to most children’s rooms, it was very clean. There were two beds in the room, and one was occupied by Aspen, who appeared to either be asleep or pretending to be (Nina had the feeling it was the latter), and the other one was abandoned except for Nina’s bag of clothes which had been placed there by one of the kids earlier, on Sarah’s orders no doubt.

Sarah led Nina to the empty bed, helped her into her pajama’s and helped her into the bed. She then said, “Goodnight. Sweet dreams kiddo.” And left the room.

After she left, Nina glanced up at the ceiling for a moment feeling strange to be going to sleep in a different room than usual. Her attention was brought back a few seconds after, when Aspen rolled over and quietly asked, “You still awake?”

Nina nodded and replied with her usual, “Yeah...” She shivered as a cold draft blew through the room.

Aspen frowned softly, “Your bed doesn’t look very warm... want to come over here?” Nina nodded and got out of her bed to walk over to Aspen’s. She gingerly climbed up as he held the covers open for her. Once she managed to get up she lay down beside Aspen who, in turn, let down the covers again. “Better?” He asked as she turned to look at him. 

Nina nodded and said, “Yeah.” Which was accompanied by a big yawn. She then closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep. Aspen soon to join her in the realm of dreams.

 

A few hours later Sarah and Ryan (after talking for a while) went upstairs to do their nightly check of the kids rooms. Basically they did this to make sure they were all asleep and such. There were many occasions when Lou was up late reading or one of the kids had a nightmare or just hadn’t gone to bed for some reason.

Ryan took the right side of the hall (Lou, Kyler, Harper and Taylor’s rooms), while Sarah took the left side of the hall (Andrew, Nina and Ashlyn’s rooms).

When Sarah peeked into Ashlyn’s room she was sleeping fitfully, but they wasn’t particularly a cause for concern as of now, so Sarah moved on to Andrew’s and Nina’s room. She was rather worried about what she would find there. At this time Andrew would usually still be awake, silently crying in the dark. So she held her breath as she opened the door a crack, only to release it and smile softly as she spotted the two children peacefully sleeping, cuddled up to other in Andrew’s bed.

Ryan had just finished his side so Sarah beckoned him over. “Ry, you’ve got to see this, c’mere!” She whisper-yelled, opening the door a tad more so he could see as well.

“What is it?” Ryan asked, poking his head into the room. “Aww,” He commented when he noticed the two small children fast asleep. “Maybe this girl could be our saving grace- and his for that matter. Heaven knows he needs one.”

“Let’s hope so,” Sarah agreed, “For now though, I think we should let them sleep.”

“I second that,” Ryan agreed, and the two headed off, closing the door behind them as they withdrew into the dark hallways.


	3. The Start of A New Day

When Nina awoke the first morning in her new home, she was greeted by something dark and fluffy and it took her a moment to figure out where she was. Once she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes she realized what she was looking at.  
  
It was Aspen, or, more specifically, Aspen's hair. He still seemed to be asleep, but it looked like he was waking up.  
  
Nina waited for Aspen to awaken. When he did, he looked very confused for a moment but then smiled softly when he seemingly remembered who she was.  
  
Nina smiled as well, "Morning." She slid off the bed and walked over to the window.  
  
"Wh.... Watcha doing?" Aspen asked hesitantly, waiting a moment before deciding to follow her over there.  
  
Nina turned and waited for him to come over before she answered, "Sun wakes up now." And pointed.  
  
Aspen looked out the window as well. She wasn't wrong technically, the sun had just begun to peak over the horizon. So he stayed there with her and watched the sunrise. He did that often because he was usually the first one up in the morning out of the whole household.

After the sun had risen, Aspen broke the silence, “D….do you wanna play….?”

Nina turned and smiled, “Sure.”

So they picked up the closest toys to where they were (they so happened to be barbies) and started playing.

“So…. Do you wanna be the black haired Barbie or the brown haired one?” Nina asked.

Aspen seemed to contemplate this, “I think I'll be the black haired one. She's pretty.”

Nina nodded in agreement and gave Aspen the Barbie he wanted. “Then I'll be the brown haired one.”

Surprisingly, they were still at it when Sarah came into their room a few hours later to wake them up for breakfast.

“Nina? Andrew?” Sarah asked, trying to get their attention away from their game but not get lashed out at.

It failed. Aspen scowled and screeched before dropping what he had been holding and running off.

Nina just watched this happen and sighed quietly.

Sarah mirrored her, “Oh well. Looks like we'll have to find him later. In the meantime, let's get you dressed and go to breakfast.” Luckily Nina was used to this and dressing her took minimal time. Soon enough she was ready to go downstairs.

Once they got there, she found Aspen sitting at the table, yet again far away from the older kids. She quickly left Sarah’s protection and ran over to him. He frowned but didn't say anything to her. She just sat next to him.

Sarah sighed but then just decided to get breakfast for the two. Everyone else was already eating, or in Kyler and Taylor’s case, they were done and getting backpacks packed.

“C'mon Lou,” Sarah urged, “You need to get a move on if you're going to make it to school. You two better finish up soon as well.” She said, turning her attention to Ashlyn and Harper.

“Almost done, ma!” Harper chirped, stuffing the rest of the meal in his mouth.

Ashlyn was also almost done. She ate quite quickly for a girl her size. “I'm almost finished as well.”

Lou however hadn't even started eating yet. She had been reading her book and only touched her food at Sarah’s insistence.

After Lou, Ashlyn and Harper finished their food, they too grabbed their backpacks they ran off to the bus stop, leaving Sarah to pick up after them.

By this time, Aspen had finished his meal as well and was just sitting there. He had wrapped a sausage in his napkin and was holding onto it.

Sarah blinked in surprise but didn't ask him about it for fear he would go off on her again. She just let him be. It seemed like if she did that he was a lot easier to handle.

As it happened, Aspen was actually waiting for Nina to finish her breakfast. When she had finished and gotten herself cleaned up, he grasped her hand and led her away from the table, much to Sarah’s amazement.

“Where are we going, Aspen?” Nina asked, conveniently when they were out of Sarah's hearing range.

“Outside,” Aspen replied, leading her to the door that went into the back yard.

“Why?” Nina questioned.

“Because that's where the kittens are,” Aspen answered.

“Kitties?!” Nina asked, her eyes wide.

Aspen nodded, “Yeah. A litter of them was just born two weeks ago.”

“Oooh,” Nina said, eagerly following her friend.

Aspen led her to a board of the fence that wasn't nailed down and held it up for her to go through.

Nina frowned, “Should…. Should we go through there? Miss Sarah will worry.”

Aspen sighed, “She's busy cleaning the house. She won't know we're gone. The yard’s big, she'll just assume we're playing over the hill. Besides, they’re just through here.”

Nina frowned and looked back at the house, “Well….”

She was wavering in her decision and Aspen saw his chance. “They're really cute. There are five little ones. Three black kittens and two white ones. The momma is black too. Her name is Shadow.”

Nina sighed and gave in. “Okay, you win. Let's go see the kitties!” She slipped through the boards and Aspen followed suit.

Aspen led her to a small bush with berries on it and knelt beside it. Nina followed his example.

He then called out softly for the cats, “Shadow, I brought food for you.”

A furry black head popped out from under the bush and the cat meowed as if in question.

Aspen said, “It's okay. This is Nina. She's my friend.”

The black cat emerged fully from the bush, and padded up to Nina. She seemed to study the little girl before meowing and walking over to Aspen to eat the food he'd brought her. Aspen smiled and stroked her black head softly before he scooched closer to the bush and moved the branches, letting the sunlight stream into the kittens’ hiding place.

“It's okay, Nina. Come see the kittens, Shadow doesn’t mind,” Aspen invited, waving her over.

Nina crawled over and peeked under the bush. “Oooh, they're tiny!” she cooed.

Aspen grinned happily. “Aren't they? C’mere babies,” He coaxed gently.

The kittens came out of their bush (well, except one who was sleeping, Aspen picked that one up later) and came over to the two little children.

They just stayed there, and played with the kittens for about two hours. Nina really didn't want to leave, but once Aspen reminded her that Sarah would be looking for them soon, she reluctantly agreed to come back another day.

Once they put the kittens back and said goodbye to Shadow, Aspen and Nina headed back into the back yard. Just after they put the board back in place they heard Sarah call, “Kids!”

Aspen frowned, “Wonder what she wants…?”

Nina shrugged, “One way to find out.”

Aspen sighed but followed the young blonde back to the house.

Sarah called for them again before she spotted them, “There you two are. I was getting worried.”

“Sorry Miss Sarah,” Nina apologized. Aspen didn't say anything, just stood behind her.

“It's okay,” Sarah smiled softly, ruffling Nina's hair. “I got you guys a snack ready, you hungry?”

Nina smiled, “Yeah!”

“Then c'mon, let's go inside.” Sarah said, opening the door for the two little kids.

Nina led the way and Aspen followed slowly, hesitating at the doorway but ultimately following her inside.

Sarah closed the door behind them and walked over to sit at the counter. She ate a banana while she watched the two little ones eat strawberries and grapes. She usually fed Andrew fruit because that was the food she found he would eat the most of. Of course, most of the time he left the table screaming or in a hostile way. She sighed. If only she knew why he was like this… she didn't even know what she was doing wrong. She figured it must be something she or Ryan did that caused his rage, but who really knew? He did attack the other children when they were alone…

Sarah was so caught up in her thoughts that she wasn't listening to the little ones conversation. Not that it was particularly interesting from an adults perspective, but they were talking about a cartoon that had to do with puppies that went around their town saving people.

After lunch had finished, Sarah put the dishes in the sink, and Aspen tried to make an escape from the table.

“Uh-uh.” Sarah called, “Come back here, you. We're going to run some errands.”

Aspen sighhhed and turned back to the table.

Meanwhile, Sarah was heading out of the kitchen and grabbing her keys. “C'mon guys, let's get out to the car.”

Nina got up from the table and began to follow Sarah, only to pause and look back at Aspen, “You coming Aspy?”

Aspen smiled tentatively and nodded, following her out to the front driveway.

As Sarah helped Nina buckle in, Aspen climbed up into his seat. Yet when Sarah was done helping Nina, she realized that he had not put his seatbelt on. So Sarah closed Nina's side door and walked over to Aspen’s side of the car.

By the time she got over there, he had hastily begun trying to buckle himself in, and in the process was doing nothing but getting the straps mildly tangled around him.

Sarah poked her head in the open doorway. “Andrew,” She started, “Do you need help getting your seatbelt buckled?”

Aspen screeched, “NO!” And started screaming, crying and thrashing about in his seat, getting tangled even worse in his half buckled car seat.

Sarah realized how dangerous that was for him and a look or horror settled in on her face. “Andrew, no! Stop that!!” She rushed to his seat and began pulling at the straps, trying to untangle them before the young ravenette hurt himself.

Eventually, she got the straps free, but it was very difficult, and she got kicked many times in the process.

As soon as he was freed, Aspen took off out of the car, taking refuge under a bush.

Sarah sighed warily. “Come out of there Andrew,” She said, “We have to go now or we'll be late!”

Aspen stayed put.

Sarah looked up at the sky and took a deep breath, trying to maintain her composure. “Andrew, sweetie, we need to get in the car and go now, Mmk?”

And once again, Aspen wouldn't budge. By now, Nina had started trying to get out of her car seat as well and began to cry when she realized she couldn't.

Sarah scowled and walked over to the bush Aspen was hiding under. “I'm going to count to 3, and if you don't come out, I will bring you out by force.”

Aspen’s crying intensified and his screaming (which had previously quieted via lack of breath) resumed.

“1…”

Aspen did not move.

“2…”

Aspen drew in his legs up close to his chest.

“3!”

Sarah walked up to the bush and grabbed Aspen’s hand, dragging him out. As she did so, his screams intensified.

Sarah didn't listen to him or his screaming and pulled him to the car. She managed to muscle him into his car seat and got the seat belt buckled correctly, despite his thrashing. Then she got in the driver's seat, got herself buckled in and started the car, trying her best to block out the sounds of the crying children in her backseat.

As they drove, Nina quieted down, but Aspen didn't stop crying and screaming until they had gotten through their first few errands.

They went to the bank, and Sarah got both of them a lollipop. Aspen refused to take it from her, but, once she gave both to Nina, the little blonde gave one to Aspen and he accepted it from her.

Sarah, who was watching from the rear-view mirror, shook her head in disbelief. _She really has an effect on him...._

And with that, they went onto their next errand. After a few more…. Situations… with Andrew, Sarah was more than ready for her counseling session.

She dropped off Andrew and Nina at her usual daycare, but sadly it would probably be one of the last times she would be able to do that. Andrew was causing problems and it was only a matter of time before he was kicked out. She sighed, breaking down a little more then she had intended. This child would be the death of her...

By the time she reached the counseling office, Sarah looked and felt worn out. As soon as her counselor opened the door and called her in, she could tell something was up.

“Sarah… are you okay?” She asked.

Sarah lost her composure then and there. “No… I'm not,” she sobbed.

“Oh my,” Her counselor said sympathetically. “Can you tell me what has you so upset?”

Sarah looked up from where she had been resting her head in her hands and spoke one word, “Andrew.”

He counselor nodded in understanding, “Ah, I see. What did he do this time?”

Sarah sighed and wiped away her tears, “I just don't understand why he's like this….”

Her counselor waited patiently as Sarah often took a while to complete her thoughts when she was like this.

“He doesn't trust me at all. His-” Her voice broke. “His tantrums are becoming a daily if not multiple per day thing and he won't even let me help him into his car seat….” she paused for a moment. “He almost hurt himself today because he got badly tangled in his seatbelt while trying to get away from me… I just wish… I wish I knew what was wrong with him...”

Her counselor frowned in thought, and after a moment she asked, “Have you ever thought of putting him in counseling?”

Sarah shook her head, “No... I mean he’s only 5 for heaven’s sake. He shouldn’t have to go to counseling.” 

Her therapist studied her expression for a moment. “I can tell that you really want to help him, and this might be the best way to do that. Remember, counseling isn’t Just for adults, children can sometimes benefit even more from it then adults can.” 


End file.
